Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Debbie--have you seen RUN FOR YOUR LIFE by Trevor Kew?

This morning (May 3, 2017) I learned about Run for your Life by Trevor Kew, due out from Lorimer on August 1 of this year. I did a series of tweets about it. I'm pasting them here (I don't know how to remove the gray background from 2-15).1) Due out sometime this year is a book that's making me go oh-oh. Set in Canada, the story is abt a kid whose dad was a refugee from Iran.2) The kid is a runner. Rather than help with a fundraiser for First Nations displaced by a fire, he'd rather train for a big race.3) When he's wiped out, he gains what he needs to keep going by imagining he is being chased by bloodthirsty savage Indians w tomahawks.4) Training session over, he's catching his breath at a park. Someone asks him if he's ok. That someone is... a First Nations teen.5) The First Nations teen is named Jason. He asks Chris (the runner) if someone was chasing him.6) Chris knew it was not ok to imagine being chased by blood thirsty savage Indians. Jason's question, then, is awkward.7) Chris realizes Jason is one of the FN people who is displaced by a fire. Turns out, Jason is also a runner.8) The two boys will race against each other, later. And guess what: Chris still imagines himself being chased by savage Indians.9) I get where the author (Trevor Kew) is going with this story (RUN FOR YOUR LIFE), but did he imagine Native teens as readers of this bk?10) There were huge fires in Canada recently. So many Native ppl in my networks were fearful for family in danger of the fires.11) With that in mind, this story might seem relevant and timely to some but I have doubts. And questions.12) What I shared here is from the "look inside" feature at Amazon. It is due out on August 1, 2017, from Lorimer.13) When Chris introduces Jason to his friends, there is awkward silence as they look at him. Then, the Korean kid says "You're a real ---"14) Chris steps in before Yongwon (the Korean kid) says "Indian", saying "hockey player" instead. That's when Jason tells them his nation.15) If I get RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, I'll be back.

1 comment:

I will be interested to see what you think about this one. I have the same oh oh that you do based on what you just shared. Particularly wondering why the mc's buddy would be so surprised to meet a real "indian"? Am assuming this is set in Canada where we do use First Nations BUT if these are students in Alberta and around Fort McMurray where the fires took place a lot of the schools have Blackfoot and Cree and Metis. Mine does...not as many as others. Anyhow...maybe I should read it, too.

First Peoples listed AICL as one of the Top Five Native Blogs and Podcast to follow. School Library Journal's Elizabeth Burns featured AICL as her Blog of the Day on July 2, 2007, and in 2007, the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children invited Debbie to write a blog post for their site.

American Indian? Or, Native American? There is no agreement among Native peoples. Both are used. It is best to be specific. Example: Instead of "Debbie Reese, a Native American," say "Debbie Reese, a Nambe Pueblo Indian woman."